The Sea Eagles had to go 4-0 to finish the year but fell at the first hurdle, losing badly to a side that hasn’t won in 12 and had conceded well over 100 points in their last three games.
The Titans were also without Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, who was awaiting the birth of a child, but rallied to produce one of their best performances of the year.
Their well-documented defensive issues have gone nowhere, but they can be proud of the endeavour with ball in hand. They hadn’t scored 30 all season but managed 44 today.
Jason Saab’s also suffered a suspected ACL tear and will be out for the rest of the year and likely the start of next season. Dylan Walker might also miss a few weeks after a nasty high shot that saw him sent to the sin bin in the first half.
Des Hasler’s men did mount a late comeback, but the die was cast in the middle of the game: from the 20th to 60th minute, they had a third of the ball, made seven errors and conceded nearly a thousand metres.
There was always hope when attacking this fragile Gold Coast line, but it was on the other side of the ball that they struggled: several of the Titans’ tries were far too easy. The manner with which David Fifita battered Josh Schuster out of the way for one of them was laughable.
For their part, the Titans move to four wins – surpassing the 2021 Canterbury Bulldogs – and off the bottom of the ladder, with the Wests Tigers slumping to 16th place.
The Gold Coast had the worst possible start and Jaimin Jolliffe, brought into the starting team to replace Fa’asuamaleaui, enjoyed a hectic first five minutes.
He made an error of the first possession and had to watch on as he thought Manly had scored, only for the bunker to overrule and, soon after, find himself running onto a crash ball to open the scoring.
The Titans can’t be trusted to defend any sort of lead, however, and were soon back on terms. Foran, who will join the Gold Coast in 2023, was the architect, pulling a short side play that got Saab free, with the winger able to dump inside for Reuben Garrick.
The first half turned on an incident in the 20th minute, when Walker – who had only been on the field for mere seconds – was given ten minutes for a high shot. With the man advantage, Tanah Boyd was able to loft an excellent pass over Saab for Jojo Fifita to score.
Again, the Titans defence would falter. Jake Trbojevic had broken just one tackle in 20 games so far this year, but the charitable Gold Coast defenders somehow allowed him through to – just about – get the ball down.
The spirit of giving was in vogue, however: Daly Cherry-Evans attempted a long ball that should have had a bow on it for Brian Kelly, who returned it to the house.
The generosity from DCE went further, with an attempted short drop out flying well into touch to allow the Titans to lead 20-12 at the break.
Manly needed everything to go for them after the break, but got a shocker start. Cherry-Evans was pinged for an escort, gifting a full set in their own end, and then deflected a kick straight to Beau Fermor to make the lead yet larger.
The Sea Eagles looked less than interested. AJ Brimson stepped through some poor central defence before Fifita lined up Schuster in the line, swatted him out of the way and ran 70m to score.
Brad Parker pulled one back and, with ten to play, Tolutau Koula got another and Tof Sipley might have had another, but with the line begging, it was not to be. Fermor grabbed one late through more poor defending to cap off the result.